Poet Laureate Announces Tenth Book, Multimedia Project

Charleston’s first Poet Laureate, Marcus Amaker, today announced his tenth book, Hold What Makes You Whole. The book is a 200-page, pocket-sized, full-color poetry collection about jazz, Blackness, self care, fatherhood, Star Wars, social justice, music, and memory.

Hold What Makes You Whole is a compilation of new and repurposed poems. Amaker, an award-winning graphic designer, complemented the collection with family photos and handwritten notes.

Along with the audiobook and e-book, the project also features short films, two full-length albums, and an interactive website.

“This book happened as I started to break up with the things that weren’t good for my mental health,” Amaker said. “I focused on having intense periods of self care, on reprocessing trauma and storing that energy on paper instead of in my bones. I wrote Hold What Makes You Whole while giving myself grace and communing with people who know the benefit of sitting with joy. I can thank my wife and daughter for all of it.”

On the cover of the book is Amaker’s great-great aunt Ruth Robinson, a poet and community leader who published her first book at the age of 65. Robinson passed in 2020 when she was 94 years old.

“Aunt Ruth and I had regular conversations right up until her passing,” Amaker said. “I feel happy to honor her this way, and it’s an honor to introduce you to her Spirit.”

The paperback, audiobook, and e-book will be released on April 4, 2023. Amaker is celebrating the release with a series of tour dates in Charleston, which you can see below. The book release party will be April 4th at the Charleston Music Hall. Pre-orders are available at NewPoetryBook.com

TOUR DATES

January 20, 2023
BOOK PREVIEW READING & PERFORMANCE
6 pm, Clerks Coffee Company, 181 Church Street, Charleston, SC 29401
Free
with Zania Cummings

April 4, 2023
VISUAL POETRY: MARCUS AMAKER’S BOOK RELEASE PARTY
7 pm, Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St, Charleston, SC 29403
$15 (general admission)
$25 (general admission, includes book)
TICKETS ON SALE JAN. 9
with Jammie Huynh, CONCEPT RXCH, Goose Creek High School poets: Emerson Finch Muck, Alyssa Ruth-Cole, and I.R. Kingsley

April 8, 2023
POETRY READING & PERFORMANCE
2 pm, Charleston County Main Library, 68 Calhoun St, Charleston, SC 29401
Free

April 27, 2023
BOOK RELEASE PARTY
7 pm, Charleston Library Society, 164 King St, Charleston, SC 29401
Free
with Alexandra Peters

May 12, 2023
ELECTROPOEMS: POETRY AND SYNTHESIZERS
7 pm, Public Works Art Center, 135 W Richardson Ave, Summerville, SC 29483
Free
with CONCEPT RXCH and Niecy Blues

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